


Yonder

by Limonium



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Alternate Universe - Space Rat, Bonus Day, Ereri Week Summer 2017, Ereri au week, M/M, and it went real far from medical au, and maybe, but tbh idek if space rat meant this, prompt is medical au, so im still tagging, this started because i was thinking something up for medical au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-30
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-11-22 20:11:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11387535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Limonium/pseuds/Limonium
Summary: Levi wouldn’t let him slip through his hands. After all, Eren was someone he couldn’t give up.





	Yonder

**Author's Note:**

> For Day 8. (And maybe Day 1 if I squint.)
> 
> This is the longest thing I have written in between review classes.  
> I went with Space for the last day! Also had references for some things...
> 
>  
> 
> Enjoy!

 

* * *

 

**_[Post-Colonial Expansion Year 8055: Nine hours ago]_  **

“I don’t like it Levi,” Hanji pulls at her hair.

“I’m going,”

“Levi! You should talk this out with Erw—”

“No,” Levi grabs a black, oval-shaped backpack and slings it over his shoulder. “I’m not letting Eren rot in there.” He walks over to the door and it automatically slides open.

“This is not like you!” Hanji blocks the doorway. Levi is sporting one of his deadliest glares, but her concern over his safety wins over, so she keeps her ground, both feet planted firmly even on zero gravity.

“A whole brigade might be waiting for you! It’s a big ship,” she reasons. She stands there, glasses askew, mirroring Levi’s disheveled appearance. She observes, one by one going over the most noticeable details. Rough, leather combat boots that don’t really shine, the blackness as bland as her several attempts at making a pot of tea. Dark hair not properly trimmed. Bangs that never go over slanted eyes but does, and an undercut longer than it has to be. The suit helmet is still on the table. No one goes out in space without helmets. In fact he isn’t wearing his combat suit! Also, one of the holsters in Levi’s belt is missing a gun. The earth-model one, the one that needs regular cleaning, the one that uses gunpowder. Hanji remembers Levi said someone close had given it to him.

“You’re going to die out there,” she says. Something passes over Levi’s eyes, but it fades away quickly.

 

 _You don’t understand,_ Levi wants to say.

 

 _I think I’m already dying anyway_ , his mind supplies.

 

There are other things—plenty and important things—he hasn’t said, so he keeps his mouth shut.

Tight.

Something taut in his chest and his stomach. Constricted lungs. Splayed hands into fists.

 

Levi grabs at her collar and shoves his way out.

 

“I’m taking him back.”

 

* * *

 

 

**_[Colonial Expansion Year 8041]_ **

“Levi!”

“What the fuck are you doing here?” Levi loads another energy pack in his gun. Flashes of light pass through the hallway and beyond his hiding spot. There was a split-second lull and he fires back, and one of the return flashes grazes his cheek. He fires again, and the exchange finally stops when a loud thump echoes.

“I told you to get out,” Levi hisses. He pulls out another particle gun and checks the meter on one side and hands it to Eren. “You’re so fucking stupid,” he mutters. Eren just beams at him and Levi quickly turns around.

He almost walks out when Eren suddenly yanks him back just as a flash bomb rolls through the blood streaked floor. The screaming and pop music from the dance hall seeps through the walls, and Levi realizes Eren was hugging him to his chest because all he could smell was that cheap cologne they were always dabbed with, and he feels weird and glad and somehow happy that he pushes him off lightly and is possessed with a need to look. To check for injuries, he tells himself. A lame excuse, he knows. But he looks, and looks. Takes Eren in.

 

Feels.

Grips.

 

Eren smiles at him again with a toothy grin, his purple shadowed eyes and fake lashes sparkling beneath neon lights, and he’s reminded that they’re both still wearing glittery coats and transparent, pinkish gloves.

 

 

_Beautiful._

 

 

He thinks that they’d be able to reach towards the wide blue skies and the wide blue seas they read in a physical book once. Birds gliding in the air. Endless greens and yellows and hues they didn’t know the name of. Then he’s reminded of that time, one night, when he had punched one of the club’s patrons for almost running a hand on Eren’s thigh.

 

Something dims.

 

“Levi.” Eren says.

 

_Barely._

 

 

There were heavy footsteps coming from the other end of the hallway. Levi searches his coat pockets for one of the scratch-grenades he made a month before. Eren swipes it away from his hands, pulls the pin off and throws it towards the noise while still looking at him—

 

 

Glowing.

Burning.

 

 

 _Beautiful_ , Levi thinks.

And throwing grenades without looking is utterly idiotic.

 

“We promised to get out of here together,” Eren simply says. He gives Levi’s hand a squeeze as they pull away from the explosion.

 

* * *

 

 

**_[Pre-Colonial Expansion Year 8037]_ **

“How many times did you get the operation?” the new kid asks. His eyes were red and swollen from crying. He is lying on his stomach, head turned to where Levi was sitting on the floor. Said kid grips tighter on the sheets and whimpers silently as he tries to get himself comfortable. He decided to give the kid the lower bunk because he knows exactly how hard it is to move after all that disgusting needle work.

Instead of answering, Levi takes off his shirt, turns around and shows him his back. There were three fleshy ridges protruding between his shoulder blades. The kid sniffles, and Levi looks over his shoulder as fat tears comes pouring out from the kid’s eyes. Levi slips his shirt back on. He sits closer to the bed and shuffles the kid’s hair.

“Don’t worry about it,” Levi says.

“I’m–I’m Eren,” Eren mumbles.

“Levi.”           

 

Half an hour later, Eren has stopped crying and was sound asleep. Levi’s hand is unmoving on top of Eren’s hair, while his other hand is caressing Eren’s back as if to take away a very familiar pain.

 

In between the kid’s shoulder blades was a fresh, fresh wound.

 

 

A couple of weeks.

“Are you okay?” Eren asks. The kid still sleeps on the lower bunk even though he’s not hurting anymore. Levi is lying in his own bed. Split bottom lip. Bruised arms, bruised fists. He hears the rustle of movement below.

“Does it hurt? Can I—can I help?” says a warm breath in his ear. Levi could hear the tinge of concern in the kid’s voice, could see in his periphery a mop of brown hair and green eyes. He sighs. Slips his eyes closed. When he hears movement again, he can imagine Eren sulking, feels the intense glare beneath him.

“Don’t worry about it,” he says.

 

 

Five months later.

“Did they force it on you too?” Eren gestures towards Levi's back. They were on break from simulation practice. One of Eren’s wrists was tied lightly with a sleeve from Levi’s jacket. The other end was tied on Levi’s leg. This was to prevent him from ‘floating too far’ Levi said. Eren shakes the sleeve a bit. Levi pushes through the air a sealed pack of the usual tasteless ration and Eren watches as it slowly makes its way towards him.

“Initially, yes. The last two was my choice,” Levi says.

“Mm.”

 

Eren ponders for a moment, and he probably ‘looks constipated’ with the way Levi was eyeing him.

 

“What? Spit it out.”

 

He's just trying not to blurt out anything stupid! He settles with ‘why.’

 

The sound of foil packets ceasing. Eren thinks he might know why, but still. Levi shrugs, opens his own ration and begins to eat.

“Don’t worry about it,” Levi says again.

 

 

A year.

The teenagers and many of the small, able-bodied kids were arranged in a straight line. They’re currently standing on a platform, displayed like goods ripe and fresh for choosing in a market. The auction is held somewhere fancy, evident with the amount of rare, too colorful food served around in platters; spiky, shiny, different in shapes and sizes, exotic creatures never had Levi or Eren or any of the children had seen before. The pungent, suffocating smell of tobacco, tall and slim glasses of too expensive liquor being offered endlessly, the audacious burgundy and blue velvets and sparkling gems of both attendees and surrounding curtains blinding and revolting to their eyes.

One by one, each child is being inspected.

_'...put up a fight. Half-martian, good eyesight...'_

_'Bulky aren’t you?'_

_'Fast reflexes I’d say. I can give you a discount if...'_

_'This one can lift a crystal crate! There's no need for mechanism attachments...'_

_'Ah, this one’s eyes are unusual.'_

_'Last price?'_

 

They are wearing the same gray-colored cloak, the only thing preserving a little of their decency. Of their humanity. What’s left of it. Burned on their nape were labels consisting of letters and numbers. New names forcibly branded and etched on them ever since they’ve been taken.

 

Victims of the previous war.

 

Orphans. Abductees.

 

Runaways.

 

From Earth, from Mars, from the New colonies or the galaxies beyond them.

 

 

 

It doesn’t matter.

 

 

 

What matters right now is that Levi will not be separated from Eren.

Eren will stay with Levi. Will follow him anywhere.

 

_They’re a package. A tandem. A team._

 

They’ll fight nail and tooth for it.

 

* * *

 

 

**_[Colonial Expansion Year 8044]_ **

“Have you seen Levi?” Eren asks one of his squad members. Marco was high on anesthetic and was watching someone from the medical team swiftly stitch the stump where his right arm should be. The ship shakes just as the emergency lights turn red briefly. The smell of sweat, blood and machinery oil permeates in the boarding sector and Eren wrinkles his nose. Armin’s voice goes through the intercom saying ‘the left flank needs backup, send a support team immediately’.

Somewhere, he thinks he could hear Jean screaming orders to ‘get in the fucking titan’ because they’re obviously under attack. So much for trying to kidnap an illegitimate child slash heiress from another galaxy. Blood was floating in front of him to which Marco laughs at and tries to catch with a cotton towel.

“He’s refilling the thrusters. I think one was busted on his way back,” Marco says. They both watch the towel turn red. Marco pulls back the towel and hands it to whoever was attending to him. “I hope I didn’t get any blood on you.”

Eren looks down on himself, raises his arms a bit and shakes his head.

“By the way, good maneuvering earlier, sorry ‘bout your arm,” he says.

“Says the vanguard? Anyway, I’ll be fine.”

Eren rolls his eyes, claps Marco once on the shoulder and goes towards the supply sector.

“Make sure to get in the nano-box to heal nicely!”

 

Approximately eleven minutes later.

Levi watches through the screen as Eren pushes himself up closer to his machine. He opens up the pilot hatch when Eren floats directly on top of it and he reaches his hand out to pull him in. Eren manually closes the hatch through a series of buttons even though Levi can do it mentally.

“There’s… blood on your nose,” Eren worriedly says as he hovers closely above Levi. It was cramped for two people to be in the cockpit. Levi just shrugs. Eren looks anxiously, uncertain, to where Levi’s back was connected to the machine.

“Does it hurt?”

“You’ve been outside, _slicing down units_ , with _me_ ,” Levi says, raising an eyebrow.

“And you’ve been fighting _without the limiter_.”

 

 

A staring battle.

 

 

Levi looks away first. Eren reaches a hand out and wipes the blood off.

 

“Does it hurt?” Eren asks—bashful and persistent—again. A warning signal resounds as the ship shakes once more. The intercom inside Levi’s machine crackles with someone’s orders to take off but they both ignore it. Eren proceeds to hold both of Levi’s hands.

 

Levi looks at him, really looks at him, not with that empty, flat gaze, but somewhat—somehow, after days and weeks and years of working beside him, he earned that one familiar look—pissed and rather fond, dare he say.

 

And then Levi is drawing his own fingers back and something falls off Eren’s gut. He looks at his own hands and his eyebrows furrow together, and both of his eyes are suddenly prickly, his heartbeat quick and aching in his chest because—

 

_Because._

 

 

The intercom crackles again, but the message just vanishes into thin air. Eren sighs. He’s about to go press a button to open the hatch—then—something warm was on his chest—

“Not anymore,” Levi hurriedly says, one hand resting directly above Eren’s heart. And when Eren looks back at Levi, there’s a tad hint of pink on the tip of his ears, a small tilt on his lips and a glint in his eyes that wasn’t there before.

 

 

There’s _something_.

Something good, something bright.

 

 

Something.

 

 

Both are knowingly thinking of the same thing.

 

* * *

 

 

**_[Colonial Expansion Year 8048]_ **

“I’m going to kill you, I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU!” Levi grits through his teeth. He was locked in one of the holding rooms in the lowest levels of the ship. His fists are bleeding from punching through the small look-through window on the door. Outside, Zeke’s glasses are glinting, mocking him, the hairy bastard smug and unharmed. Levi could’ve landed a sickening punch or two if it wasn’t for Eren being held at gunpoint. He should’ve seen this coming, he should’ve listened to his instincts, should’ve left this place with Eren when he found out about it…

 

Eren.

_His Eren._

 

“I’m thinking of throwing you out to freeze in deep space. You’ve kept the kid’s ability from me for the past couple of years, hmm?”

“I’ll cut your fucking throat,” Levi says as he wipes his forefinger on the glass.

“Good luck, Captain.” Zeke walks away.

 

* * *

 

 

**_[Post-Colonial Expansion Year 8055: Present Time]_ **

Alarms blaring. The almost dim fluorescent lights are flickering, which only makes Levi’s head hurt a lot more. It doesn’t help him at all with locating Eren’s room. Doesn’t make him feel a little better with a bleeding arm that just worsens his headache. Still, he thinks he’s almost there. Five fucking years, too many years for finding a stupid, stupid brat.

Levi slides down the wall, his hand leaving a smudged bloody print. Not now, not yet, he thinks, not until he gets Eren out of this shit hole.

 

 

_'Does it hurt?'_

 

 

“What. The. Fuck.” Levi laughs. He gets up and drags himself towards the last door.

 

 

 

 

_'Zeke leaves every two weeks. No one knows why, but...'_

_'But?'_

_'I overheard him saying something about a 'hometown'...'_

_'Anything else?'_

_'I... I've seen him once. The one they called 'Coordinate'.'_

_'Do you remember how does this 'Coordinate' look like?'_

_'Yeah. Tall... tanned skin, round eyes... has black or brown hair I think...'_

_'Thank you, this is more than enough. I'll dig up on my own.'_

 

Intel from that blond chick he helped out during Erwin’s ambush of the Titan Army. That was two years ago. Locating the battle ship took some time. Good thing the remaining members are traditional as hell and sticks to, well, traditions. It was easy to sneak in when they’d tweaked patrol routine only to a few notches.

 

 

 

 

Levi remembers Zeke choking, bathing in his own blood in the tub. He watched until the fucker stopped moving.

“Good luck, huh.” He mutters when he was going through his former boss’ belongings.

 

 

 

 

Levi reaches the door, picks one from the IDs and swipes.

 

“ _Eren_ ,” he breathes.

 

Levi approaches the one-way window. He unconsciously loosens his grip on his bleeding arm, the pain numbed far away from his senses now that Eren is in sight. All that longing almost slides off from his chest but no, this distance, he’s still too far and it’s not enough and he needs to get closer. Levi looks around the room, and where the fuck is the button or whatever shit he’s supposed to swipe the next ID card on, because there’s three sets of modern-day keyboard and number pads and some shady looking levers. He’s afraid to touch any of it, because Eren’s right there and this is obviously, a fucking control room and—

He sees a cabinet in a corner with the bold, red symbol of 'Marley' and what fucking fuck. He swiftly opens it and finds more fucking buttons, the regular fire-extinguisher and that sweet, sweet ID reader.

He inhales and swipes the card. He turns when a part of the wall beside the window slides open and he’s nervous and glad because finally, finally—

 

A white tiled, white walled room. Steady beeping. Levi strides up beside the bed. A chest that slowly rises and falls. There are a number of thin, colored wires connected to different sized machines that extends towards Eren’s sleeping figure on the metal framed bed.

The room is silent except for that steady beeping and breathing. Levi looks and sighs, and just. He carefully reaches a hand towards Eren. He touches his cheek and he’s so, so warm and Levi feels himself relax.

 

_His Eren._

 

He reluctantly draws back and looks over everything. The oxygen mask that fogs up repeatedly. There’s a monitor displaying Eren’s supposed to be information. Then there’s a monitor that shows a model of the brain and its activity he guesses. Another shows some sort of line graph that continuously draws itself, another flashing a series of number and letters he could not understand, and—

 

That beating heart.

 

 

_Thump, thump._

_Thump, thump._

 

 

Levi could hear it in his ears. Faithfully knows how it would sound. A wave of relief consumes him and he thinks that something wells up in his eyes.

 

 

He’s here.

 

 

Eren’s here.

 

 

Levi found him.

 

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> It went like this in my head:
> 
> Levi is three years older than Eren. Eren was 10 when he got the nano-implant.
> 
> During the early years after escaping the auction, they were space thugs, jumping from one colony to another. Then they got hired as ‘Customer bait.’ They needed a job even if customer bait was hella weird. Then they became mercenaries, who were eventually contracted by Zeke for added manpower.
> 
> Levi worked under Erwin after he was thrown out, inevitably crossing paths with Zeke who was leading the ‘Titan Army’.
> 
> Levi was looking for Zeke because he’s the only one who knows where Eren was kept, it wasn’t necessarily in the same ship they worked before.
> 
> Eren’s ability might’ve been his mental strength (literally the brain) and monstrous physical abilities.
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for reading! Kudos, comments and feedback are loved!


End file.
